Euro-Pro Lawsuit: Dyson blows hot air with suction claims

BOSTON, Sept. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Euro-Pro, maker of the popular Shark line of vacuum products for household use, has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against Dyson Inc. for falsely claiming that Dyson's Animal vacuum has "Twice the Suction'' of its competitors.

"Dyson knows that its claims are false,'' said Jennifer McCabe, General Counsel of Euro-Pro. "It's unfortunate that we had to resort to litigation to force Dyson to publicly acknowledge the truth.''

Independent testing has confirmed that Dyson's Animal upright vacuums do not have "twice the suction'' of  Euro-Pro's Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away Upright vacuum, which was launched on July 8, 2014. Testing by a third-party laboratory shows that suction of the Shark Powered Lift-Away Upright actually exceeds the Dyson DC65 and DC41.

Dyson began its multi-million dollar "Twice the Suction'' campaign in late 2013, just as the Shark was taking the No. 1 spot for market share in the vacuum category. Dyson has continued to use the slogan on its website, packaging and promotional materials, even after introduction of the Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away.

Euro-Pro first notified Dyson in May 2014 that the impending launch of the Shark Powered Lift-Away would render Dyson's advertising false and misleading. In July, Euro-Pro again contacted Dyson and revealed that testing on the Shark Powered Lift-Away showed the "twice the suction'' claim was literally false. On July 11, Dyson subsequently purchased three Shark Lift-Away vacuum units directly from Euro-Pro to conduct its own testing.

After Dyson had two months to conduct its own testing, Euro-Pro contacted Dyson, sharing its third-party tests and demanding a deadline of Sept. 30 for Dyson to remove the false advertising from its retail packaging and any in-store displays.

"At this point, Dyson's continued delay is clearly calculated toward keeping its false advertising claims on store shelves through the busy upcoming holiday shopping season,'' Euro-Pro wrote in its lawsuit.

Euro-Pro is asking the federal court to require Dyson to halt its false and misleading advertising and to pay appropriate damages for its conduct.

To view the full complaint, click here: http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/ENR/148849-Euro-Pro---Dyson-2X-Suction-Complaint.pdf

SOURCE Euro-Pro